Capturing Space Through Form and Color (Workshop T)

Instructor: Marion Rivolier (Paris)
Location: Palau de Mar

This workshop will focus on space and color. After a quick analysis of the building or place, we will explore ways to create volume and space using watercolors and painting "directly" — no preliminary sketching in pencil or pen. We will work with brushes throughout the workshop, and stick to a limited palette, mixing our colors (green, ochre, red, blue, yellow etc.) without using black. Our aim will be to capture the essence of the place as quickly as possible.

Relying on color is a sensitive approach that works through experiment. How do certain colors vibrate when placed next to one another? What is it that makes these vibrations and relationships create volume and space?

The three-hour workshop will be divided into 3 parts:

A- For the first 30 minutes we will sketch the space as quickly as possible, working with masses and focusing on the contrast of light and dark. What are the colors that make up the shadows and lights? These sketches will help us to understand the space we are in and to see beyond "black and white." Special attention will be made to reserving areas of the page, using the white of the paper as well to position light and contribute to the composition of the space.

B- For the next 45 minutes we will work with color contrasts, exploring different means for conveying a feeling of the space using ranges of colors and playing with temperature (warm/cool). Setting aside the lights and darks for a while, we will work on freeing ourselves up to feel the richness and variety of the colors we see (for example, grass is not green but a lot of colors: brown, blue, yellow, ochre etc.)

C- After the quick sketches described above, the remaining 1 hour and 45 minutes will be spent on longer sketches using the two forms of contrast weÕve explored earlier: light and color. By working from dense masses to lighter ones, foregrounds, middle-grounds and backgrounds can be created. If we try to keep our colors luminous and intense, weÕll see how they can do the work for us of creating volume and space. Later on, lines can be added little by little where needed (using only a brush). These lines will also be inÉ color!

Learning goals

• to perceive a complex place and describe it through colored masses.
• to step outside of the "coloring book" approach of drawing and filling in lines, and to gain confidence in painting directly.
• to feel free with colors and able to interpret reality.
• to free the hand and let it draw "without the mind". To practice focusing on the subject with less thought on the actual drawing (letting go of the idea of creating a "pretty picture"). To discover how this freedom can allow the feeling of a space to come through.

Supply list

• Watercolor sketchbook (Bring two if possible to save waiting for things to dry. A4 (8 1/2" x 11") or larger are recommended for beginners.)
• Watercolors: limited palette (primary yellow, Naples yellow, orange, vermilion, cadmium red, cerulean blue, cobalt blue or ultramarine, Prussian blue, green, ochre, no black)
• Three paintbrushes (small, medium and large)

Other sample sketches